Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photocatalyst device and an air conditioner for a vehicle having the same, and more particularly, to a photocatalyst device and an air conditioner for a vehicle having the same that purifies the air introduced into an air conditioner case, sterilizes and deodorizes an evaporator, and effectively radiates the heat generated from the photocatalyst device, thus continuously keeping the sterilization and deodorization performance.
Background of the Related Art
An air conditioner for a vehicle is a device that heats and cools air in the process of introducing external air into the vehicle or circulating internal air into the vehicle to conduct the heating or cooling in the interior of the vehicle. The air conditioner includes an evaporator disposed inside an air conditioner case to perform cooling and a heater core disposed inside the air conditioner to perform heating, so that the cool air by the evaporator and the heated air by the heater core are selectively blown into respective portions of the interior of the vehicle by means of a blowing mode switching door.
With the increment of a vehicle supply rate, on the other hand, the time during which passengers stay in the vehicle is extended, and accordingly, many studies have been made to maintain the freshness of air in the interior of the vehicle. However, the internal space of the vehicle is relatively small and closed and also easy to be polluted, and due to fine dust and various pollutants in cities, further, air pollution in the interior of the vehicle becomes more serious. As a result, air conditioners for a vehicle have been recently developed to purify the internal air of the vehicle.
One example of conventional air conditioners for a vehicle is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2549032 (issued on May 30, 1997) entitled ‘cooling device for vehicle to which deodorizer is attached’. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the conventional cooling device for a vehicle to which a deodorizer is attached.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional cooling device for a vehicle, to which a deodorizer is attached, has a body 20 having an external air inlet 21 and an internal air inlet 22 and an intake door 23 rotatably mounted to selectively open and close the external air inlet 21 and the internal air inlet 22. An actuator 30 is connected to a rotary shaft of the intake door 23 and controlled by control means 31. Further, a blower 25 is located behind the intake door 23 to blow the air introduced from the external air inlet 21 and the internal air inlet 22 into downstream side, and the blower 25 includes a fan 32 and a motor 33 for rotating the fan 32. An evaporator 26 is located behind the blower 25 to perform the heat exchange with the air passing therethrough, thus achieving air cooling. Further, a photocatalyst filter 27 is located on an air passage 28 behind the evaporator 26 to produce reactive oxygen through the irradiation of light having long wavelength. The photocatalyst filter 27 produces the reactive oxygen through the irradiation of an ultraviolet lamp 29, and the reactive oxygen oxidizes and decomposes the materials causing bad odor into extremely low-concentration oxidized compounds. The ultraviolet lamp 29 is located between the evaporator 26 and the photocatalyst filter 27. Moreover, a metal catalyst filter 34 is located behind the photocatalyst filter 27 to remove ozone contained in the flowing air. A reference numeral 35 indicates a temperature sensor, a reference numeral 36 a sensor for sensing bad odor levels, a reference numeral 37 a fan switch, and a reference numeral 24 an air outlet.
According to the conventional cooling device, however, the ultraviolet lamp 29 used as a light source of the photocatalyst contains mercury harmful to the human body thereinto, and due to bad environmental reasons, accordingly, the conventional cooling device is not actually applicable to the vehicle. Further, the photocatalyst filter 27 is located behind the evaporator 26 and thus absorbs and deodorizes the bad odor generated from the evaporator 26, so that when an amount of dust is excessively large to decrease an air-flow rate, the photocatalyst filter 27 should be exchanged with new one. According to the conventional cooling device, in addition, the ultraviolet lamp 29 and the photocatalyst filter 27 are provided as individual parts, thus making the assembly performance of the device deteriorated.